1 november 1963: coup tegen Diem, vermoord

On November 1st, 1963, South Vietnamese Generals led by Duong Van Minh overthrew Diem's regime. The President and his brother and strongman, Ngo Dinh Nhu, initially fled the presidential palace and went into hiding. Diem was aware that the United States had given up on him, after Kennedy's TV interviews in September, and especially Diem's telephone conversation with Ambassador Lodge the very night of the coup.The CIA had actually been informed of the details of the plan since its initial stages, and Lodge himself had pressed hard to guarantee, if not direct U.S. support for the insurrection, at least a pledge of not intervention, to which Kennedy agreed.



Even though Diem's regime was showing growing signs of exhaustion after nine years in power, the coup opened the door for the rivalries and inefficiency that would plague the government in Saigon and thwart the American war effort.

http://www.nv.cc.va.us/home/nvsageh/Hist277/DanielFiles/Coup.html (20031102)